never owned a jeep how reliable are they?
what mpg will i get they say 34mpg?
are jeep doing ok as a company ,not going bust anytime soon?
is there anything i should look for when iam buying one?

thanks
maka

Hi,

have just bought myself a 2013MY new GJC this weekend in the UK. Drove both the Overland and s-limited, and owned a Jeep 12 years back too. My twopenceworth:-
- Reliabilty - look at honestjohn.co.uk (also for real-world MPG) and http://www.reliabilityindex.com/ , they seem to come out fairly well and favourable vs. Landrover & VW/Audi. Not as reliable as far-Eastern counterparts though but that's to be expected. Parts can be sometimes tricky apparently, and Jeep's reputation in the UK is poor due to dealer network and generally uninteresting & thirsty products. Its now on a Merc ML platform too so that should improve reliability and the engines are apparently reliable despite being a combination of Italian and American engineering (only thing I think that could be a worse combination could be the French being involved !!). But having owned a Range Rover & a Jeep a few years back, I'd definitely go Jeep. However do expect minor niggles.....and make sure the car has some Jeep warranty on it.

- MPG. of the ones I've tested (about 6, all done 2000-9000 miles), I've looked at the longer-term MPG display on the demos and also checked myself the MPG on the test drives. Average seems to be around 24-26 MPG(UK), but they were doing 36-39 at 70 on the M-Way and around 18-22MPG round town/in traffic. So about 25% below official figures. And yes, the MPG displays Imperial MPG in the UK and not US MPG (despite dealers telling you otherwise - you can check by converting the l/100km display).

- Jeep are now part of Fiat group, so not likely to go bust....but it is Italian, so who knows! But I think the worst is over now it has been bought up. However they're not doing well in the UK (sales down 29% in 2013 so far over 2012 Q1 in the UK, and their dealer network is pretty awful over here in the UK from my limited experience at trying to buy one).

- Buying one in the UK currently:-. Most dealer sales staff I have dealt with are s***e: either wideboys, overly condescending & arrogant or very inexperienced in sales & can't sell or negotiate to save their lives - of all the sales dealers I've dealt with over the past 4-6 weeks in making my decision on a car (Audi, VW, BMW, Volvo, Kia, Mercedes, LandRover) they've been the worst by a long, long way (yes, as bad as Landrover are, I can honestly say Jeep are much worse) and I was at the stage of just walking away at one point and going BMW just so I didn't have to deal with them, despite me really wanting a GC and it actually being quite a good car. No wonder sales are down 30%. However the cars are going for a song at the moment (I picked up a delivery mileage Overland on a 62 plate for under £35K, and there are many more cheaper S-Limiteds in the dealer stock that aren't advertised on the likes of Autotrader or the Jeep website - you need to ring up individual dealers and ask them what they have/can get hold of). So aim to pay £34K max for a delivery mileage S-limited pre-reg on a 62 plate, don't let the dealers give you any crap about everyones after them at the moment and the prices on Autotrader are high - they're trying to clear the decks for the new 2014 model arriving early Summer. You can get a new one cheaper than a used at the moment ( FYI, new Jeep car sales in 2013 are 29% down on this time last year so they are hurting - but still too stupid to want to sell a car). Oh, and negotiate the price over the phone first before going down to see them - trust me, it's a lot less hassle. And if you see a find a good deal and use this as a lever to negotiate down against another dealer, they will ask where you were offered the deal - don't tell them! Twice I had deals scuppered this way by the dealers ringing them up & either scuppering the deal or buying the car themselves !!!!

If you want a reasonably good dealer based on my experience over the past 3 weeks trying to buy a 2012/13 Overland, try Steve at Horsham, Mark at Oxford and the 0141 number for Arnold Clark who were helpful (motors.co.uk), and all were willing to hunt down a good vehicle & then deal and negotiate fairly on it. The Stockport dealer is also getting out of selling Jeeps this month so may want to offload stock. Avoid Hemel, Bournemouth, Nottingham, Beaconsfield and Derby dealers like the plague, they're either too arrogant or unhelpful to deal with or too inexperienced to be able to negotiate with directly, and you just end up hitting a brick wall.

- Limited-S: drives very similar to the Overland, much better than the Limited (don't ever be conned into buying a Limited, they're a terrible drive for UK roads). Main difference to the Overland is the dechroming/blacking up, no electronic LSD, apparently an added "Performance pack" (but so far nobody has been able to explain accurately what this is: in particular the difference between standard & sports suspension and uprated brakes, including the dealers who seem to think they're the same on the Overland as the S-Limited) as well as a downgraded interior from the Overland (carbon fibre in the cockpit, SRT Seats & SRT Hifi are a good upgrade but plastics /trims look cheap over Overland). plus no sunroof, no roofrails. So essentially similar to an Overland but more aggressive looking.

Good news is that there are plenty of (unadvertised) S-Limiteds in the dealers that theyre trying to shift but very few Overlands left. So good haggling but don't spend more than 33-35K on a new 62/13 plate with delivery miles. Overland prices from Jeep dealers are £28-29500 for a 61' plate with 10k miles, £30-32K for a 2012 with 5-10k miles on clock, 62/2012 new prereg £34k (white, green) - £35K (grey, black, with delivery miles or about 32K for a 62 plate with 9k miles) and £36-36.5K for 2013/13 delivery miles (Horsham & Arnold Clark). A good tactic to get more off the price would be to ring up and tell them you want an Overland in a popular colour ( Grey or Black)- they're really scarce & they struggle to find them, and so they'll try to sell you a white Limited S in a white or pale colour instead, but you can use that as an excuse to get more off the price (not really what I wanted, mr salesman, but ....... :-) )

Oh, and if you get one & want to swap some black bits for some chrome bits, give me a shout!

cheers

Dave

PS forgot to mention - white most common colour in dealers at the moment, and Pay £500-1K less ! Maidenhead have 1 sitting in their showrooms.....As do Horsham, I think.